Harriet Harman just does not get the need for talent over hormones. This feminism obsessed woman (except when it comes to abandoning all women shortlists so her husband could get a safe seat) is now calling for half the shadow cabinet to be women.
What is wrong with that you ask? Well if we start from an equality assumption then we would expect talent to be equally distributed irrespective of gender. As Labour has 258 MPs of which only 81 are women we would expect the most talented 22 (the number of Cabinet positions) to consist of 15 men and 7 women.
Harriet's plan would see 11 women in the cabinet irrespective of talent, that is not equality it is blind prejudice. To promote somebody based on their chromosomes rather than their ability is unjust. To deny more talented people the opportunity of fulfilling their career based on their ability is immoral.
I am glad she is in opposition and that her wimmin will not get to run any real departments. I am sure women everywhere will be insulted by the proposition that they should be matronised (patronised by a feminist) in this way.
What Labour needs is more Balls not less ;-) #ballsforleader.
Here is what the June Wikio rankings look like for the top thirty political blogs. The rankings are based on data extracted from Wikio Labs so should be correct. I have never been more than one position out yet, and that was because Labs had the wrong score for a site.
Highest climber of the month is Charlotte Gore who is quickly recovering her position since returning to blogging after a short break. The other result of note is Liberal Conspiracy knocking Guido into third place for the first time as far as I remember.
Update: Wikio have now published the Top 30 on
Matt Wardman's blog. I again had one blog out of place, this was my fault rather than the Wikio data, I cut and pasted the wrong score for Stumblings and Mumblings. Now fixed.
Time for a new ethos of public service and end to ‘spiralling’ pay for town hall managers
In a major intervention that will send a strong signal to quangos and local councils, Eric Pickles has vetoed a massive salary package for the new chief executive of the Audit Commission.
- Inconsistency from town hall quango: The Audit Commission has issued a series of reports slamming the spiralling level of pay amongst local authority chief executives, and also criticised the excessive amounts paid out in severance packages. Yet, following the departure of its own chief executive Steve Bundred, the Commission has asked the Government to approve a salary and pension package of £239,800 a year for its new chief executive. The decision was ducked by Labour Ministers, who sat on their hands and refused to tackle this controversial issue.
- Conservative Minister vetoes £240k pay package: Eric Pickles, the new Secretary of State, Communities and Local Government this week refused the request of the Audit Commission, saying that it contravened the spirit of the new Treasury rules on controlling senior public pay. Although the pay decision is initially a matter for the Board of the Audit Commission, the Secretary of State has the legal power under the Audit Commission Act 1998 to ‘direct’ the Commission if necessary.
- Commission spent £56,000 on lobbyists: Earlier this year it was revealed that the Audit Commission spent £56,000 in the last 12 months on hiring lobbyists, Connect Public Affairs. This included lobbying the Shadow Cabinet to try to “take steps to counter” the Conservative Party’s policy on abolishing the Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA) regime, since “the Commission is vulnerable in terms of the policy formation of the Conservative Party”. Plans were also drawn up to “build an effective campaign to protect and develop CAA” and “to impress upon [council] leaders the value of the CAA to their specific authority".
- Clampdown on lobbyists: This was one of the least successful lobbying campaigns in history. The role of the Audit Commission is now being narrowed with the abolition of the bureaucratic and expensive Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA). Mr Pickles is also issuing new guidance to all arms’ length bodies of his department – including the Commission – to stop them hiring lobbyists.
Eric Pickles, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, said:
“The spiralling level of pay and perks for town hall bosses stops here. By blocking this massive salary for the Audit Commission, I want to send a signal to councils across the country that they too can stop paying ridiculous sums to chief executives. Councillors should have the confidence to set sensible salaries that the public deem fit and proper.
“The public coffers are empty thanks to Labour. Everyone will need to do their bit to cut unnecessary costs. We should lead from the top – cutting bosses’ pay from the Cabinet downwards. It’s time to restore an ethos of public service.”
The Twitterati are up in arms over David Laws' expenses claims. I am disappointed that so many people believe that David Laws' sexuality is at the root of the concerns of so many who wish to see him sacked. Had his partner been female and he had been a heterosexual who had claimed these expenses I would want him sacked.
The fact that he is gay should be irrelevant, but sadly it is not, some people seem to think that should put him above the law. This is political correctness gone mad. Equality under the law is right and fair and I fully support it, but this debate has made me question how many of his current supporters would be calling for him to go if he was straight?
David Laws may have wanted to keep his relationship private, he should have been allowed to, but private or not the rules forbid paying expenses for rent to his partner so he had the simple choice not to claim them.
Of course it is not because he is gay that people feel he should be sacked, it is because he claimed £40,000 off the taxpayer to pay rent to his partner. He has the role to slash services to those same tax payers, he cannot stay.
Ed Balls has obtained the nominations he needs to run for Labour leader.
Guido who has been supporting Ed's campaign has asked people to come up with a campaign logo.
Here is my effort.
David Cameron demonstrated he was quite strong throughout the expenses scandal by dismissing those who had breached the rules quickly and fairly. This contrasted sharply at the time with Brown's prevarication.
David Laws' breaches of the rules are clear and have benefited him by £40,000. Paying it back and using what has become the standard cover of reporting himself to the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner does not go anywhere near far enough.
His defence that he was keeping the relationship private is laughable, it wasn't private from him was it? He knew when he claimed the money that he was renting rooms from his partner.
A simple and clear case of expense fraud that should not be tolerated. David Cameron must show leadership here and that can be made much easier by Nick Clegg calling for Laws' immediate dismissal.
